Press Releases

April 8, 2008

Germany Supporting Construction of 33 More Police Stations in Afghanistan

Germany is once again stepping up its support for the new police force in Afghanistan. Currently 33 police stations are being built with German assistance in the north of the country. The aim of the program is to extend policing beyond the urban centers by improving police infrastructure in rural areas.

As part of the effort, Thomas Ossowski, the head of the German Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Kunduz, together with the provincial governor inaugurated a new building for the traffic police in Kunduz and a new police headquarter in the Qal-e-Zal district on April 5. A large number of locals attended the handover ceremony.

To mark the occasion, Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier issued the following statement in Berlin:

"To enforce law and order there has to be a reliable police presence especially in the Provinces. Our aim is to help the Afghan police force to progressively assume responsibility for guaranteeing the security of the people in Afghanistan.

I realize that is no easy task! Our offer to build more police stations is intended to support the Afghan Government and police in this endeavor.

For its part the police force must do everything possible to give citizens greater confidence in the country's security forces. Here, too, we are doing our bit – by stepping up our training and advisory activities and improving police equipment and supplies."

Recently Kunduz Province has increasingly been the scene of attacks by radical Islamic groups. A few weeks ago Germany established a permanent presence – the Taloqan Provincial Advisory Team (PAT) - in Takhar Province. To improve internal security in the province, local police need to be better equipped.

Germany has made available a total of 2.9 million euros to build a network of 33 police stations in the two provinces.

In addition to the two buildings just handed over to the Afghan authorities, Kunduz and Takhar Provinces are also to receive a further 22 police posts, 6 police stations and 2 district headquarters as well as a building for the Kunduz airport police. The location of new police posts at important transport hubs and routes is intended to provide a secure environment for the development of the country's trade.

The building work complements the international community's ongoing training and advisory program aimed at developing a fully professional Afghan police force, supported by the German Government as part of the EUPOL European police mission.

The building projects themselves are being implemented by the German police team in the Kunduz PRT in cooperation with the Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) and local Afghan construction companies.

In its Afghanistan Policy Paper published in autumn 2007 the German Government had already stated its intention to intensify civilian reconstruction and create a denser network of activities on the ground. Under its reconstruction campaign, Germany has therefore increased its funding for civilian reconstruction from 80 million euros a year to over 140 million euros in 2008. One of the priorities here is to strengthen Afghanistan's security forces. German support for the new Afghan police force has been tripled and now totals 36 million euros. Germany has already spent over 900 million euros ($1.45 billion) of the total earmarked for civilian reconstruction up to 2010.

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